what can we do to afford our bills?

Question

we are having a hard time of paying our bills we have 2 little ones. give me some ideas how to budget to make ends meet. need alot of help.

Answer 1

Here are some tips:

A. Reduce your current bills:
1) Eliminate immediately anything that is not needed. (i.e. Cable TV, cell phone, a subscription, etc.)

2) Phone bill - switch to a internet based phone. I used to pay about $100 per month. I switched to vonage and now only pay $27 flat fee.

3) Call up your gas and electric company and ask for advice on how you can reduce your bills. They will give you some good advice. It saved me about $200 per month during the winter.

B. Credit Cards
Get rid of all the credits except for only one. Credits cards can get you into trouble fast.

If you have many, then you should look pay the most to the credit card that has the least balance. All others you should pay the minimum. Once it is paid, repeat the same with the remaining cards.

This also works for any other debts you may have.

C. Spend Less
1) Use coupons when you go food shopping. Buy healthy and natural food for the family.

2) Don't buy anything for yourself personally for a while (i.e. clothes, toys, etc.) until your situation is under control - unless of course you absolutely need to.

D. Saving Money
1) If you can, have your employer automatically deposit part of your paycheck into a different bank account. This way you won't see the amount in your checking account. This is a great way to save money.

E. Stay on top of your finance - stay disciplined
Pay your bills on time and balance your checkbook often. A great way to do this, is to use online banking. There is a bill pay service you should sign up for with www.paytrust.com. All your bills become viewable online and you can setup up automatic payment schedules. This will ensure all your bills get paid on time.

F. Donate money
I know this sounds crazy when you are trying to save money, but trust me. If you lend God money we will give you manifold more. Do it as often as you can and whatever amount. Even if it is $1.

Best of luck.

ps. Pray to God for help. He will answer.

Answer 2

you really haven't given a lot of information here in order to get quality help. Only you know exactly what problems and bills you are facing. First, total all your income for each month, take home pay only. Now total all your bills for each month based on usual billing rates over a three or four month period, If you hav ethem from last year then you can figure them seasonally.
Now, if your bills exceed your income you can't solve the problem with budgeting. If they don't but there is so little remaining you can't afford croceries medications gasoline etc. Then you still have a problem.

Is your life style extravagant? By that I do not mean mansions and caviar but do you have two cars? Are they both financed with payments due each month? Are they new or very late model? Get rid of one, ity's inconvenient in some ways bt will seave you money. Perhaps buy an older used car and pay it out quickly using it for emergencies only and share the other newer one for ordinary things. Do you have a telephone with call waiting, caller Id, ad infinitum. Get rid of that and have local phone service only with long distance only if needed. A cell phone allows long distance for free. If you both have cell phones then get rid of the home phone all together. Lok at everything you pay for monthly and decide just how badly you really need it. If you don't, get rid of it. Use good sensible judgement and mathmatics and figure out how much more you need, how to earn it or to reduce your bills by that amount. That is budgeting as its basics and all I have to work with under just a basic and general question.

Answer 3

we also have 2 kids and i'm a stay at home mom. believe it or not, we were struggling more when we were both working! babysitting fees, 2 running cars, more packed lunches, you get the idea. the first thing we did was decide that i was going to stay home. then you can sit down and put every single bill in front of you. list everything, even gas and misc for toilet paper and diaper wipes all the way to dish detergent. we even have a line for family night spending. i added everything up and figured what we spent per month, then weekly....and factored how much my husband had to make as far as hours and wages per week, what he had to clear for a paycheck. he then went out and found 2 small filler jobs to fill in the gaps until he climbed the ladder enough to quit the other two jobs. i tried pampered chef, avon, all that junk. it ends up costing more, or investing as they tell ya, than it was worth the time. if i were you i would sit down with a calculator and start crunching numbers. once you have it all down on paper you can see where you can or should cut corners, too. once i had it on paper i saw that calling cards would be cheaper than a long distance plan, and we only needed the smaller satelite plan...you get the idea. now i know exactly how much my husband needs to clear every week to pay the bills. good luck!!!

Answer 4

Sometimes a debt consolidation loan is a good way to get back on track. A home equity loan can be a good option but only if you do not go back to running up debt. At one time I had a lot of credit card debt and basically I concentrated on paying one off at at time. I started with the smallest balance and once that was paid off I took that money each month and put on another credit card. After about 5 years we were out of debt. Not knowing more details about your finances, such as whether or not you own a home or have a lot of credit card debt it is kind of hard to say. If you are just having a hard time with the normal living expenses (no debt) try to minimize your expenses by cutting out convenience items, shopping sales, using coupons, and cutting out any extras like eating out & movies etc. Staying at home and doing things together like playing cards or board games are a good substitutes. Even reading a book together is fun. Have a home made pizza night. It is better than any take out and the kids can help put on the toppings.

Answer 5

Is there a Social Services office in your community? You may qualify for food stamps, help paying your electric bill, cash assistance, etc. If worse comes to worse you can pay one bill one month and another bill the next month. Do you have any family that would lend you some money to help you make ends meet?

Answer 6

One way is to start paying only for your four major needs.

Food - $$$ (includes stuff for babies)
Shelter - $$$
Transportation - $$$
Clothing - $$$

once money for these have been set a side any extra should be used to pay other bills just work till all are paid off.

If you like I can email you a sample whole budget.

Answer 7

Pay off your lowest bill first.. and then when that bill is paid, use that payment money to put on the next highest bill. Then when that is paid off use that payment on the next.. soon they will all be paid.

Be frugal.

Most important and I have a testimony of this... PAY TITHING. If you pay an honest tithing the Lord WILL bless you. I have a testimony of this. Tithing is very real.

Answer 8

add all your bills.each mouth.add all your income.each mouth.OK. dived your bills by the way you get paid.put back all the bill money.win the time comes's to pay your bill's you have it.the rest of the money is yours that's it you make $2000. a mouth.your bills is $800.a mouth.save $800.for bills the rest you have to what ever.that the way to have money all the time.

Answer 9

Get a lesser priced home or get another job. GET RID of ALL CREDIT CARDS.
Only buy what you need and very little more.

Answer 10

porn industry pays a lot !...........it does